Cornerstones

Every strong building has a cornerstone. The cornerstone is the thing that provides stability to the entire building. Cornerstones are such a key element in building that my home state, Pennsylvania, is called the Keystone State! Recently I have been taking more notice of the piles of bricks all around Malawi. I started to think about how these bricks represent so much about Malawi, including the education system I am now working in. 

Bricks here in Malawi are handmade. There is no automatic machine that produces them by the truck load. Every brick that is produced is the product of the blood, sweat and tears that went into it. Similarly with education, there is no home school or cyber school option here. Kids must be in a classroom in order to learn. Educators pour their blood, sweat and tears into giving their students the best education they can provide. 

The bricks are made from the soil of the surrounding area where the building is to be constructed. This isn’t a problem, unless the soil in the area you want to build isn’t good for making bricks. Comparatively, what is a child in Malawi expected to do if there is no local school within a reasonable walking distance of their village? In the US school districts spend tons of money transporting students to school, but here, if there is no school nearby, there is no schooling. No good soil, no bricks. No school, no education. I am thankful to be working at a school that was built in an area that needed a good quality secondary school. 

After the bricks are constructed they are left in the sun to dry. If the brick was not constructed in the proper way, or if the materials used were not mixed properly, it is at this point the bricks will crumble. I wish I did not hear about students’ education crumbling due to measures they cannot control. Some of the events that can contribute to the breakup of their education are: a death in the family, illness, or lack of funds for uniforms or school supplies. Any education that is left to crumble due to elements outside of the student’s control is a tragedy that I hope someday is no longer an issue. Another problem here is getting the proper materials needed to teach. I have seen school houses that are simply a thatched roof with children sitting under it. How can students succeed without the proper materials they need to learn? Many schools have just a few textbooks and desks or benches, no workbooks, paper, pens, pencils and no computers, projectors or electricity. It seems to me that many schools are like a building that has a "brick cornerstone" that is built without the proper mix of materials, and is sure to fall apart. 

Once the handmade bricks here are dried they are piled and covered in mud to be fired like pottery in a kiln. The bricks are again put to the test. The strongest bricks will survive the firing and the weaker bricks will crack. In the Malawi education system, in order to advance to the next step of schooling a student must pass exams. If the exam is not passed, the student has two options, redo the previous year and sit for exams again (which sometimes isn't financially or realistically an option) or drop out. The other realistic part of the educational system in Malawi is that there are simply not enough universities or scholarships to support all the students that wish to attend. Therefore only the absolute best of the best are chosen to advance to University level education, leaving the rest behind. 

Making bricks is back breaking, hard work. Education is not something that is simple or easy in Malawi. There are obstacles and sometimes factors that cannot be controlled. But the beautiful thing about Malawi is that even though it isn’t easy, the students and brick makers continue to persevere. Students continue to walk miles and miles to get to school. Teachers use whatever they can in order to get the material across to the students. Communities come together to support students who are struggling. And just like the bricks that they work so hard for, they use them to BUILD something great. They become cornerstones made out of the most unlikely circumstances. 

Education is a lot like building bricks here. It’s not easy. Sometimes the materials are not exactly what you need. Even if you do everything right there are still cracks in the system. But at the end of the day, the students of Malawi are the cornerstones for this developing nation moving forward. Please continue to pray for them as they build themselves as high as they can go.

Show Me the Kwatcha

I spent months raising donations to come to Malawi. There were countless hours of trying to figure out how much I would need in order to spend a year living in this country. Now that I am here and settled into my daily life, I would like to take a moment and show you what the money I raised is going toward.

Some basic information to start with: the currency here is the Malawian Kwatcha. The Kwatcha is produced in 5s, 10s, 20s, 50s, 100s, 200s, 500s, 1000s, and 2000s. The exchange rate for the Kwatcha and the U.S. Dollar as I write this blog is about 730 Kwatcha for every dollar. Some quick math will show you, that means the largest bill here is the equivalent of about $2.75. Because of this, we are constantly carrying around large wads of money, not because we are rich, but simply because everything we pay for we use cash, and you need a lot of bills to purchase bigger items.  I have yet to use or even see somewhere I could use a credit card here in Malawi.

The money that I raised not only supports me, but it allows us to employ multiple people to work for us. This might sound strange to you, so let me explain. In this culture if you can afford to have others work for you, you do. By hiring someone to work for you, you have given them a job and a way to provide for their families. We employ a young woman, Verah, who helps us with things around the house, and multiple guards at night to protect our house. 

After we consulted with our Malawian advisors, we were told to pay Verah who works with us every day, 30,000 Kwatcha (about $41) a month. They also advised us to pay our guards (which we also share with the headmaster and his family) 18,000 Kwatcha (about $25) a month. When they first told us these figures, I thought they were joking. That amount was not even close to what these people deserve. They explained to us this was a VERY good amount, as most Malawians make about half of this, if not less, a month. All of the people we employ seem to love working with us and continue to tell us how happy they are, so our advisors were right, and we are very thankful and blessed to be working with these people.

Our other big expenses are food, gas and internet. Buying food here is interesting because things that would be more expensive in the states seem to be what is cheaper here. Things like fresh vegetables and eggs are so inexpensive because they are all grown locally. However anything that has been imported from another country is outrageously expensive. At the market the other day we got: a head of lettuce, a head of cabbage, 12 tomatoes, 4 green peppers, 6 carrots, 4 onions, a huge bunch of green beans, 4 cucumbers, and a pound of dried kidney beans for 3,000 Kwatcha (about $4). The same day we went to the grocery store and got some meat, soy sauce, and a couple household things, and ended up paying close to $40. Needless to say, we will be eating a lot of fresh vegetables this year!

Gas is currently 1,130 Kwatcha per liter. If you compare this to the price of gas in the States, it is very expensive. This is another reason driving is so unrealistic for most Malawians. Another big ticket item we pay for monthly here is internet. We use the internet for about an hour a day to talk to our families, upload pictures and of course post blogs! To us this expense is worth every Kwatcha for the ability to stay connected to home.

I am thankful for every Kwatcha that I am able to spend. Not just because I am fortunate enough to have the money, but also because I am loved and supported by so many people back home who gave me the opportunity to be here. Please continue to pray for the people without enough Kwatcha today, and be extra thankful and generous with the blessings of every dollar in your pocket.

New Normal

I have shared in previous blogs about the many differences and challenges that I have/am facing here in Malawi. Now that I have settled in, these differences don’t seem so strange anymore. They have become my new normal. I have shared my new ways of cooking and driving, but today I would like to show you what some of the normal activities I do at home look like here in Malawi. This is my new normal.

My new hair salon: It has now been about two months since I left the United States, which means it has been two months since a professional has cut my hair. I say professional because I do not consider my current hairstylist a professional (sorry Lauren). We learned quickly that no one in our new home town of Mulanje would know how to cut “Azungu hair”.  We may be able to find someone to cut our hair in Blantyre, but honestly we are not there very often, and when we are it’s usually just to go to the grocery store or other shops then right back home. So instead, I have entrusted my haircuts to my housemate. I must say, she may not be a professional but the view during my hair cuts is much better than back in the states, and she’s doing a pretty good job so far. 

My new shower routine: Our house does not have a hot water tank. We have a device on our shower head that is supposed to heat up water as water runs through it; however it is currently not functioning properly. We have had an electrician come and look at it twice and we are still hopeful that it will be fixed, but in the meantime we are using another method. Every morning when the young woman that works with us comes to our house she starts her day by heating up a large pot of water. She then transfers this pot of hot water to a container that I am able to take into the shower with me and mix with cold water in a large tub. From there I am able to pour the now warm water over me in order to bathe. Although this is not the most ideal way of showering, I am none the less so grateful for the ability to shower daily and have access to clean water. Plus, not to brag, but I have pretty much mastered the bucket shower at this point. 

My new sleep schedule:  Malawi has 12 hours of day light, and 12 hours of darkness daily. The sun rises at 5:30 a.m. and sets at 5:30 p.m. It is like this all year round. Because of this, I have changed my sleeping schedule. Malawians wake very early to start their days before it gets too hot, so I too have been waking early. After waking this early, and going through the days in the African heat, I find myself in bed way before I would be in the US. Between you and me, there have been days I have been in bed before 7 p.m. If for some reason I am still asleep past 7 a.m. on any given day, our friendly neighborhood rooster makes sure to linger outside my window to ensure I know I have slept in.

My new skin care routine: At home, each morning I would spray my body with some delicious smelling fragrance, and put lotion on to keep my skin moisturized. Although I still put lotion on here, I mostly stick with sunscreen. The sun is blistering hot and even being out in the sun for a few minutes can leave my skin reddened. I also have also traded in my body sprays for 100% DEET bug spray in hopes of avoiding mosquito bites. 

My new gym: I will not pretend to be any kind of gym rat, but I did enjoy going to my hip hop Zumba class once a week with Heather and some of our friends to bounce around and get a good workout in. Unfortunately I have yet to find a hip hop Zumba class here in Mulanje (even if I did, Africans have amazing rhythm and I would stick out like a sore thumb) so instead I have taken to home workouts with my trusty workout buddy Remus, who always has my back (literally). My new normal of home workouts and long walks through the tea plantations surrounding my new home have made missing my weekly hip hop class easier. 

 

My new perspective: With each new difference I am faced with, I am reminded with just how blessed we as Americans are, and how unfortunately, we are often blind to these blessings. Living here and facing new challenges daily has been so eye opening, but such a blessing. I said I did not know how God was going to change me this year, but I can say for certain, God is using this year to change my whole perspective. I challenge you all to take a step back, and admire and give thanks for the many blessings in your life, especially the normal everyday ones you may be over looking.